Cristiano Ronaldo looks like a shadow of the great player he was


Cristiano Ronaldo had a disastrous day against the Democratic Republic of Congo. If you were encouraged and told that you could do something long enough, even with clear evidence that you could no longer do it, you would probably try to keep trying. If a coach picked him consistently, ignoring the obvious, you might think he still has the talent. Walking into a stadium packed with fans who had come especially to see him, many of whom held signs saying "With or without the World Cup, you will always be my GOAT", you would believe he is still an attraction. It's hard to let go. Especially when there is always another milestone to be reached. Another tournament to play. A thousand career goals to be achieved. And especially when his colleagues and former rivals continue to shine. But Cristiano Ronaldo can't do it anymore. Or at least, he can no longer play at the level necessary for Portugal, a team that, in theory, is one of the favorites to win the World Cup. For just over an hour in the 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Houston, Ronaldo did virtually nothing. It wasn't even that he played badly, but rather that he didn't do anything. He was a void, a theoretically corporeal being that could well have been a mist, a spirit without substance. There were no disastrous shots, terrible passes or grotesque errors. Nothing that anyone could turn into a super cut for social media. Nothing. After the break, he had two shots. Both were virtually identical, attempts that went wide of the near post from touchline crosses. This was the first: ... and this was the second: Neither were clear chances — although it could be argued that a Ronaldo in his prime would have taken them. The first was a pass that came behind him and was very difficult to direct towards the goal. The second was slightly more symbolic, because if he had let it go, Bruno Fernandes, who was right behind him, would have had a clearer chance at the goal. It was something that Thierry Henry commented on Fox Sports. "The team needs to score. You don't need to score," said Henry, suggesting that Ronaldo is putting himself above the team. "If he got into the six-yard box, it would have been an easy goal for Bruno Fernandes." And after that... nothing again. The most telling moment may not have been either of those two missed shots, but one soon after, when a cross came in from the right and Ronaldo was at the far post. It looked like a good ball, the kind he used to rise magnificently to head into goal. This time, he didn't go up. In a literal sense: he just didn't jump. Why can't you do it anymore? Why didn't you want to? Who knows. The ball was cleared by Democratic Republic of Congo defender Chancel Mbemba in a routine header away from someone who used to be Cristiano Ronaldo. Soon after these chances, thousands of Portuguese fans in the stadium began to sing Ronaldo's name, trying to cheer him up, trying to manifest one of those great moments that he used to produce. He encouraged the chants, perhaps trying to manifest something himself. But he couldn't. At the moment, the only convincing argument for Ronaldo's presence is that he creates a distraction, something his teammatesteam can take advantage of. "A lot of the game he was in an offside position," said Wayne Rooney on the BBC, as in the example below where Ronaldo is circled. "That's not his laziness, that's him being very intelligent. He makes the DR Congo defense have to look for him, which creates space for his teammates. But it also means that when the ball goes wide, he can get back into an offside position and cause real problems." The problem is that it's not causing any of these problems. Because you can't do it anymore. And the opposition knows this too. After the game, the DR Congo players were too respectful to say this openly, but of course they know. “We know he is not the same as before, so we knew he would run less,” said midfielder Ngal’ayel Mukau. "I expected maybe a little more from him, but it's normal, he's a little older. It's an honor to play against him." Again, Ronaldo is not necessarily to blame for this. After the game, Roberto Martinez reaffirmed not only the choice to leave him on the field for 90 minutes, but also to select him. "In a game like this, where it was difficult to break the defense, it is crucial to use Cristiano's skills," he told the press. "It wouldn't make sense to take away the greatest scorer in the history of football in a match where we need to score goals." He didn't want to, but he said the magic word: history. Ronaldo is the past. And it's not new; It's not like Martinez couldn't have predicted it: this was the tenth game in consecutive major tournaments in which Ronaldo hadn't scored. If Martinez wanted to take him as a kind of mascot, whom other players look up to with admiration and who could inspire them or serve as an emergency option on the bench — as Carlo Ancelotti did with Neymar — or even as an expert penalty taker, that would be justifiable. But he continues to field a 41-year-old player who walks most of the game and offers no real goal threat, as the benchmark of one of the most talented groups of wingers and midfielders at the World Cup. It is impossible to think that if Ronaldo had been suspended as a result of the red card he received against Ireland in their penultimate qualifier, rather than receiving an inexplicable pardon for two of his three game suspensions, it would have been better for Martinez and Portugal. All of this was particularly acute compared to what happened on Tuesday, when the biggest stars shined brightly. Erling Haaland scored twice for Norway. Kylian Mbappé scored twice for France. And of course, the great specter, the other half of the greatest individual rivalry in the history of the game, Lionel Messi, scored a hat-trick for Argentina. After the final whistle, Ronaldo began walking slowly straight towards the tunnel. Halfway there, he stopped, turned around and greeted some teammates and some opposing players. Then, it turned around again and completed its journey out of the field. Some of his colleagues were not far away, but were called back to the center circle, from where the majority of the Portuguese team applauded their fans. But Ronaldo was already gone, descending into the bowels of the stadium. There's no suggestion that he actively ignored his teammates and, by extension, the fans, but he was just...gone, alone, of no use to his peers. As metaphors go, it's not especially subtle. InIn many ways, this isn't really his fault. But he can't do it anymore.

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